He is the youngest son of the owners Ralph and Cheryl Broetje, the family dedicated to helping their 1,300 fulltime employees stay on top. At peak harvest season, 2,800 people work here.

Dozens of workers stand near the edge of the spinning belts, apples coming to them with state of the art technology.

“It takes a picture in a 3D image…the infrared,” Tyler said, pointing to the head of the line. “Of every apple.”

The company is now investing about $50 million in the facility, adding packing robots to the shipment line.

According to Tyler Broetje, the new machines will serve as tools to help workers get more done, without cutting into the workforce.

“[Our parents say] our employees are just as much owners as they are,” he said. “And that we wouldn't be here without them.”

The company makes sure staff at the rural facilities are well-covered, providing a daycare facility, an optional housing development, a school, and a gym.

“They have their children here, their children grow up in the community, then they go to college,” HR manager Lucy Cartagena explained.

Cartagena came from El Salvador at age six. She has now commuted from the Tri-Cities to work at Broetje’s Orchards for 22 years.

She is one of the coordinators helping the largely Hispanic work population become integrated members of the community.

“Be a welcoming company for people, who maybe are not familiar with the laws of this country,” she said.

To help with this, the company pays for many staff members to attend second language classes.

“You've got to find a way to communicate and live together,” Bairstow said. “So speaking Spanish is just as important to those who are native-born-English speakers as speaking English is to Spanish-speaking people.”

“It gets me up every day. Everyone just being excited just to come work here,” Tyler Broetje said.

The Broetje family foundation also provides aid to people in need overseas, including in India, where Tyler and several of his siblings were adopted.